Kent's Vim Page

Vim is Vi-IMproved, a free (charityware) vi text editor work-alike
with many extensions and great features such as multi-level undo,
multiple file windows and buffers, flexible insert mode (use the arrow
keys to move while in insert mode), visual mode (execute commands on
highlighted areas of text), block operators (operate on rectangular
blocks of text), folding, and an online help system. Vim is well worth a
try, even if you hate vi (try easy mode: vim -y or gvim -y), and
especially if you love vi but would like to eliminate some of vi's
limitations, such as limited line length or single-level undo.

If you don't know what "vi" is, my more generic
vi
Information & Resources page will give a brief
introduction and some links to further sources of information.

I've come a long way down the vi trail since 1990...vi, xvi, elvis,
vile, xvile, nvi, and now, Vim, which I use almost every day. I have found
Vim to be a most useful, efficient, and enjoyable editor. Here is a screen shot (91K PNG) of
how Vim 7.2.166 compiled with GTK GUI looks on my WinXP system (running
Cygwin X) from gvim installed on my FreeBSD system. Vim has user-customizable
color schemes. If you don't like the background, it can be easily changed--by
default vim installs with a white background).

A huge plus with Vim for me is: I'm able to use the same version
of Vim under Win10 and Unix, thus eliminating any jarring mental shifts
that come from using editors with different interfaces when switching
development platforms.

Vim is under active and ongoing development. Vim 8.1 is the most
recent stable release. This new version (compared to Vim from the
v4.6 era) offers customizable color syntax highlighting/coloring
for many programming languages and filetypes, a choice of graphical
interfaces (such as gvim on Unix using Athena, Motif, or GTK), pull-down
menus, toolbar, folding, its own scripting language, user functions,
viewing colorized differences between files, spell-checking, multi-byte
printing, omni-completion for structs/classes/objects, highlighting the
line the cursor is on, tabbed editing, persistent undo, concealable text
in syntax highlighting, blowfish encryption of files, and the ability
to include Perl, Python 2/3, MzScheme, TCL/TK, Lua, and/or Ruby as an
interpreter that can be used to modify files in the editor.

You can find four examples here of how I've been using
Vim [567].x's color syntax highlighting features on my Kent's Vim Syntax Files page.
Note that none of these are official. In fact, if anyone uses SPSS
statistical software as well as Vim and would like to take over
maintainership of my SPSS highlighting definition for Vim, drop me a
line. It would be nice to get this into the official distribution of
Vim, but I don't use SPSS any longer and haven't had any opportunity to
update and test sps.vim.

I've also put three Vim functions for programming
SAS with Vim, with Tools menu integration, a
simple log checking script, and an example of a wrapper
script to add a filename to the Vim quickfix list here. The
Tools menu with the SAS functions installed looks like this. If
you program in SAS and use Vim, these functions may be worth
a look and give you some ideas on how to set up Vim on your system.

The VIM Home Page(http://www.vim.org/)
This site is the main repository for Vim-related information,
a SourceForge repository of Vim tips and scripts, including plugins
and color schemes. This site is the central place for
useful user-submitted scripts and tips for Vim. There are
hundreds tips! This is a definite must see for Vim users!

Vim Recipes(http://vim.runpaint.org/)
Recipes for Vim usage in a Problem/Solution/Discussion format. Several
formats available including PDF, HTML, zipped, bzipped tarball. Latest
source is available on GitHub. Has a link to an Atom feed and Twitter.

Cream(http://cream.sourceforge.net/)
As the site says: "A modern configuration of the powerful and famous
Vim... Cream shapes Vim into an interface you probably already know
(sometimes called Common User Access). Whether you are writing emails or
developing large software applications, Cream saves you time and gets
you up and running quickly."

vi(1) Tips: Essential vi/vim Editing Skills(http://devguide.net/)
A book by Jacek Artymiak for learning vi/vim quickly, using less confusing terminology,
illustrations, and step by step instructions for file operations, cursor
movement, and editing. Focuses on getting new vi users up to speed quickly
but does continue with more intermediate vi/vim usage. (Lublin, 2008, 101pp, illustrated).
See also: Amazon link

Hacking Vim(http://www.packtpub.com/Vim/book)
The book "Hacking Vim: A cookbook to get the most out of the latest
Vim editor" by Kim Schulz (Packt Publishing, 2007, 210pp, illustrated)
provides a number of tips, hints, setup ideas, scripts, functions, and
ways of improving the Vim experience. There are many topics covered,
from heavy-duty Vim use for programming to cosmetic aspects of Vim
set up. Whether you will get enough out of the book to warrant its
$39.99 price tag (but see the Packt web page, there may be a discount)
depends on your current level of Vim usage, but from my
experience most Vim users will find something of use.

Steve Oualline's book Vi IMproved -- VIM(http://amazon.com/)
Steve Oualline's book about VIM was published in 2001: Vi
IMproved -- VIM by New Riders Publishing (can't seem to find
it at New Rider's site any longer). If you are new to VIM
or have been using VIM for a long time, you'll find something in this
book to improve your editing efficiency or usage. I know I did.
Order the Vim book via links (to Amazon) at this link and
help ICCF help orphans: http://iccf-holland.org/click5.html

Jano's Vim Macro Page(http://www.vanhemert.co.uk/vim/)
Approximately two dozen macros for Vim in the categories of Toys &
Entertainment (for example, a macro for creating text stereograms, and
the Tower of Hanoi macro), Documents & Languages (including macros for
C, HTML, and LaTex editing), and Miscellaneous (such as a file manager
macro).